This invention is directed to a locking device which is used to fix a trailer towing mirror to a vehicle so that the trailer towing mirror cannot be removed by unauthorized persons.
Automobiles and small trucks are sometimes equipped to pull trailers, boats, cement mixers and the like. These components which are being pulled are fixed to the towing vehicle by a typical trailer hitch. If the object being towed such as a house trailer inhibits the driver's view through the rear-view window, it effectively renders inoperative the use of standard rear-view mirrors. In order to allow the driver of a vehicle to see behind him there are presently on the market several styles of outboard mirrors which attach to the vehicle and extend a sufficient distance to the side of the vehicle to allow the vehicle operator to see behind the trailer or other large object being towed.
The most common style outboard or trailer towing mirror has a centralized support having the mirror attached to the upper end and having a small lip or curled member on the other end which fits underneath the edge of the vehicle's fender. To a hinging bracket attached near the center of the main support is hinged a composite of three members attached to each other to form an A-frame. At the apex of the "A" is the hinging point which attaches to the main support and at the bottom of each respective leg of the "A" is an attachment piece which fits in the seam dividing the top of the fender and the hood of the vehicle. The mirror is attached to the car by inserting the attachment piece into the seam and the lip around the bottom of the fender and bringing the main support toward the A-frame by turning a turnbuckle which is attached to the cross-member of the A-frame and to a bracket positioned in between the hinge bracket and the curled member of the main support. The turnbuckle is turned until the fender of the vehicle is essentially wedged between the end of the legs of the A-frame and the bottom of the main support.
Once fastened to the vehicle these trailer towing mirrors can be removed in three ways. The first, of course, is that the vehicle operator purposely removes the mirror. A second removal, an unauthorized removal, results when someone other than an authorized person removes the mirror. The additional method is an accidental method which can result from use of the vehicle on very rough or uneven terrain which causes severe vibrations to be transmitted to the mirror resulting in the turnbuckle becoming loose and the mirror falling off.
In view of the second and third methods of removal delineated above there exists a need for a device which will lock the mirror to the vehicle and prevent unauthorized or inadvertent removal of the mirror from the vehicle.